lEntered at the.Post Office of New York, N. Y., ... Second CI .... Matter. Copyrigbt, 1900, b;- Munn '" Co.J

A WEEKLY JOUItNAL OF rRACTICAIJ INFORMATION, AIlT, SCIENCE, MECHANICS, CHEMISTHY, AND MANUFACTUHES,

Vol. LXXXIII.·-No. 20' NE"\V YORK, NOVEMBER 17, 1900. r $3.00 A YE.\ K. ESTABLISHED 1845. J 18 CENTS A COPY.

Partially Completed Canal (August 1) at Entrance from St. Lawrence River. Large Hydraulic Dredge at Work, Showing Floating Discharge Pipe.

Sectional View through Power House, Showing Arrangement of Turbines and GeneratoR. 'tD liBW 711,000 ROBBB POWBR PLAliT AT .ABSBli.&, OW YORX.-[See PBie 810.] J06 J tieutifit �metitau. NOVEMBER 17, 1 goo.

the center, thus controlling all the cylinders of the man. The Sequoia and General Grant National Parks Itientifit �mtritllt. engine at once. are eaten into by private claims. In brief, the majority The chief engineer of one of the fastest of the of the trees are owned by men who have the right, most ESTABLISHED 1845 Atlantic liners recently informed us that although his and in cases the intention, to fell them. engines are equipped with one of the best types of gov­ The Calaveras Grove was discovered in 1841 by MUNN &; CO., EDITORS AND PROPRIETORS. ernor, he is so far distrustful of its efficiency that John Bidwell. and by 1870 the majority of the big PUBLISHED WEEKLY AT during a spell.of heavy weather he guards against dis­ trees had been located. One of the largest examples No. 361 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. aster by letting the stearn run down consideraiJly in in the Calaveras Gl"Ove was cut down in 1858; the iJark the boilers. While this precaution is a wise one. it is was 15 to 18 inches in thickness, and after stripping this TERMS TO SUBSCRIBERS after all but a compromise. The fact of the matter is off, the diameter of the trunk was found to be 25 feet One COPY. one year. for the United States. Canada. or liexioo...... $3.00 One COPY. one year. to any foreign country. postaJ,re prepaid . .£O 168. M. 4.00 that with the extrao!'dinary increase in the weight and at a height of 6 feet above the ground; it was 302 feet THE S('IENTIFIC AMERICAN PUBLICATIONS. horsepower of marine engines which is now taking high, It was found to be impossible to fell it by ...... $3.00 Scientlflc American (Established 1845) ...... a year. ordinary means, so the trunk was bored . .. place, the governor problem aS8umes increasing illl­ by pump SClentitic American Supplement (Established 1876) ...... 5.00 .. ScientifiC American BuUding Edition (Established 1'885)...... 2.50 portance. The captain wl.o finds hilllself in command augers of large diameter. This occupied twenty-two Scientific American Export Edition (Established l8io) .....••... 3.00 'l'be combined subscription rates and rates to foreign countries will of a big ship with an extraordinal'y reserve of power in days, five men being employed, and at the conclusion be furnished upon application. t Remit by postal or express money order. or by bank draft or check. its engine roolll is tempted to make use of it and dl"ive of heir labors it was found that the tree would not MUNN & CO.,361 Broadway, corner Franklin Street, New York. his ship at full pressure in heavy weather, and we shall fall, so two and a half days were consumed in driving see more of this as the titlle goes by and the compe­ in wedges; the men then retired for dinner, and a gust, NEW YORK. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17� 1900. tition for record passages grows keener. The demand of wind blew it over, Nature apparently wishing to for a device which will allow these engines to be driven prevent the hand of man from consummating this last WANTED-A MARINE ENGINE GOVERNOR. to their maximum capacity against a head sea grows act in a great tragedy of the forest. The bark was The accident to the engines of the ,. St. Paul" calls more pressing with evel'y high-speed liner that is used to form a room in the old Crystal Palace, at to mind the more serious disaster which several years floated. South Kensington. A cotillon party of 32 persons • I. I. ago overtook the" City of Paris," when she was run­ danced on the stump. Another tree, called "The ning in the service of the Inman and International THE SEA ROUTE AS A COMPETITOR OF THE SIBERIAN Mother of the Forest, " was 321 feet high and '137 feet to Line. There is this difference, among others, between RAILWAY. the fil'st branch. It is estimated that there were 537,- the two engine room wrecks, that while the pre­ There seems to be a decided diVision of opinion in 000 feet of sound inch timber in the tree. The "Father di�posing cause in the case of the "St. Paul" is said the Russian press as to the part which the TI'ans·Si· of the Forest" was about 400 feet high when standing, to be well known, in the case of the" City of Paris" it berian Railway is to play in the carriage of freight be­ and its circumference at its base was 110 feet. A nUIll­ will always remain a matter of doubt. It is supposed tween Europe and Asia. The optimistic press be-' ber of the living trees have been named, and most of that the propeller shaft of the "City of Paris" gave Jieves that the scheme will attract to itself a large por­ them are marked with marble tablets, way, and that the consequent racing of the engines tion of the freight which is /lOW carried by sea between There are l,aBO Big Trees in the Stanislaus or South caused the Illost extraordinary smash-up of cylinders, European and' Asiatic .ports. On the other hand, we Calaveras Grove, including" Smith's Cabin," in the iJeu:plates, and reciprocating parts which ensued. find the Novosti 'oecfaringthat all hopes of any con­ charred hollow of which a trapper lived for three years, According to the published reports of the officers of siderable revenue accruing to the road frol11 this sourc'e and where he occasionally also stabled his horse. T he ship, the wrecking of the engines of tile" St. are based upon a misunderstanditig of the situation. The" Caual Boat " is a decumbent tree. The upper Palll" was due to the loss of the propeller and parting It contends that the Siberian Railroad can never com­ side and heart have burned away; in the bottom of the shaft as the result of an encounter with a dere­ pete ISuccessfully, either in poiut of time or cost, with thousanus of young big trees have started. In the , lict. If the propeller did not strike a submerged ocean-going steamers, for the reaSOlJ that it takes forty­ Maripo�a Grove is a tree through which a road has wreck, it is quite possible that, as the ship is reported two days to carry freight from Irkutsk to Moscow by beeu cut. to have iJeen dl'iving into a head sea, the sudden sub­ rail, and that the. steamers are making the same rate Unfortunately, the Big Trees are exquisitely propor­ lIlersion of the propellers. when the engines were raq,. of speed at the present day. The question of time, tioned and are the noiJlest specimens which the bo­ ing, may have set up sufficient strain to cause the however, is not so seriou\! as is that of the cost of trans­ tanical world can offer, and for this and by reason of fract,ure of the sha(t. In any case, whatever was the �GrtatiQn, and the Ntl\'ostf claims tha,t in this respect theit' extreme age they ought to be protected from prellispol!ing ('ause, the immediate occasion of the also the railroad will find itself to be at a serious dis­ vandals. Many of the Big Trees are estimated to be wrecking of the engines, both in the" Paris" aud the ad,-antage. Thus, it is assulIJed that if the carriage of 3,600 years old, and 4.000 rings have beel) counted. "�t. Paul," was undoubtedly the running away of the freight between Hamburg aqd Port Arthur, a distance Under the most favoraiJle conditions these giants prob­ engines, due to the sudden reulO\'al of the load. of 6,000 miles, costs only abol1t one-two hundredth part ably live to be 5,000 years old, and even more. They 'l'he recent accident serves to emphasize once more ,of a cen(p�r·· podd ,of thirty-six pouuds per verst of seldom die natural deaths; they seem to be exempt the crying need that exists for the introduction of a two-thh;ds of a mile, then the freig:ttt 'per pood between from the diseases which afflict other trees. Their worst lIIarine engine governor that will govern: some device these two ports will amount to forty· five cents. As enemy is man; then comes tire, lightning, storms, and which will not merely a'ct when the propeller is lifted all:'ainst this rate by rail it seems that the rate by SE-a the giviug way of the ground on which they stana. clear of the water, but which will immediately .check from Hamburg to Vladivostock is only' eighteen centa Fossils show the Rig Tree to be the remnant of a once the speed when, by the total loss of the propeller or the per pood of thirty-six pounds. It is clal�led t'hat DumN'OUS family ;it is a direct or collateral descendant parting of the shaft, the load is ent.irely and pertna­ although this differenc�between the rail alld sea rates of ancient species. Their ancestors formed a Jarge part nently removed. We believe that it is the common . is so great, the steamets are carrying. freight at a of the fO,rests which flourished .throughout the Polar consent of steamship mell that a perfectly satisfactory fair profit, while the Si9t1riall ro�d'"'fs carrying regions, now desolate and ice-clad, and which exteJ¥led governor of this kind has yet to be designed, We say freight at less than cost, even when making; the into the low latitudes of Europe. The natural repro­ this with a full knowledge of the fact that some very . higher 'ch�rgd of forty-five cents �s mentioned above. duction of the tree is slow, and the preservation of the ingenious governing devices have been.tried alld are From this cOllJPa:�i�on it is conchlded that for thl! race is dependent on maintaining the present groves being tried, and that as far as they,go some of. them present, at least,the railroad cannot figure, as a COUI­ intact. The big. tree' rejoices in five names which have are doing very good work. The trouble with most ma" petitor'with the. steamers which are already engaged beengiv'en' to it at various time!!; Seq'uoia, Washing­ rine governors is that they fail to act with that an­ in the trade. The field for the activity of the railroad toniana, however, which was proposed in 1898, will pro­ ticipatory effect which is necessary properly to con­ lies in the direction of developing the more 0.1' less bably be the name under which it will be known. trol auy form of marine engiQe, and doubly nellessary lo.cal traffic, and in pr6inoting the settlement of the The big tree has been'introduced into England and to govern the modern mtilti-cyliudered engines of the . country and upbuilding its industries: the Continent, and while it has done well it shows that triple and quadruple expansion type...... the existing climates do not suit it, and the Sierra for­ In t.he days of the simple higll pre�sure or of the CALIFORNIA'S BIG TREES. ests need fear no rivals. It has been occasionally culti­ single�expansion condensing engine, the common form The Forestel' of the Department of Agriculture, Mr. vated in the Eastern United States, where it does not of centrifugal gO\'eqlOl', acting on the throttle, was Gifford Pi,nc4ot, has just written a most intereSTing flourish. There are two trees 35 feet high in a nursery fairly effective. Steam was cutoff the instant, that the acc()u'n't of the " Big Trees" of California. and the dan­ at Rochester, N. Y. engine cOlllmenced to race, and 'beyond any temporary gers which menace them. Before the giacial period The lumbering of the Big Tree is very destructive, acceleration, no excessi ve alld prol()nged . racing was the genus called Sequoia flourished widely in the The enormous size and weight of the tree naturally en­ possible ; but with the. introduction of triple, and, temperate zones' of three continents. There were tails considerable breakage, and the brittle trunk is later, of .quadruple-expansion engines"the proble.m has IlIIiny species, and Europe, Asia, and America had liable to be smashed by any inequalities in the ground. been greatly complicated; for even if the supply of each its share. But when the ice fields moved down The loss from this cause is great; but it is only one of steam is cut off from the high-pressure cylinders at the ou't ot'the North, the luxuriant vegetation of the age the sources of waste. The great diameter of the logs, first instant of racing, there are still, in the case say of declined, and with it the multitude of trees . One notwithstanding the lightness of the wood, causes . after a six· cylinder engine, four large cylinders full of steam another' the different kinds gave wav,. their remains their weight to be so enormous that it is impossible to which are fr�e to exert their power on the shaft, and it became buried. 'and when the ice ;eceded' just two handle many of them without breaking them up, For will'take three or four revolutions before this steam has species, the Big Tree and ". the Redwood, survived. this purpose gunpowder is used, and the fragments are passed through the engine and been. condensed at t.he Both grow in California, each ill Ii. separate locality. often of wasteful shapes, and unless great care is used con4en�er. Evidently a lIIarine governor' to be effect­ the Redwood occupying a narrow strip of the coast in preparing the blast. a great deal of the wood itself ive mUtit anticipate, by th'ree or four revolution/l of rangeS ten to thirtyinile,!! wide and extending from is scatt�red into useless splinters. At the mill, where the engines, the moment wl:Jen the propellers will be Oregon to tl:Je Bay of Mqnte,rey. ,The Big Tree (Se­ waste i8 the rule in the manufacture of lumber in' the lifted from the watel'. It has been the pbjeet of some quoiaWashingtoniana) is 'found in small groves scat­ United States, the big tree makes no exception. This cleverly designed governors to secure this action. One tered along the west slope of the Sierra Nevada Moun­ waste added to the other sources of loss makes a total of the best known of these consists of a weH opening t�iris.·· There are teh'main groves or groups of trees, probably often considerably in excess of half the total through the floor of the vessel and located some dis­ alld'the number o(specimens figures up some thou­ volume of the tree. The bigtree,.also stands as a rule ranee from the stern, in wl.Jich the water rises to..the sands, but only about 500. are re'markable for their size. in a mixed forest composed of many species, and the �alUe level as. the water on the outsid�'of the huil,at The Big Trees are unique ; they are'the oldest living destruction caused by the fall of one of the enormous that. particular part of the vessel. Within the weI Us thing, and are the most majestic of' trees, and I.lre ex­ trees is in itself great, but the principal source of dam­ a float which acts through suitable mechanism. upon tremely interesting from a scientific point of view as agEl is the immense amount of debris left. on the ground, the throttle valve;and the theory of the device is that as being the best )'iving examples of a f9ruier geologic age. a certain source of future fires.' This mass of broken tile tl"Ol1a:h of the Wave paslles aft, and before it reaches Their vitaiit,Yis rellutrkable, the fungus is an enemy branches, trunks. and bark is often 5 or 6 feet thick. the lJropeller, the sinking of tlie water in the well will and and necessarily gives rise to flres of great destructive ' unkllowo'to it, the' best specimens ha\Te been CaUse the steam to be thro.J,tled a. few mOlllents before foun'd to 'be sollnd at heart when' fell�d: These great power, although the Big Tree wood iii not. specially the, trough o.f the' waves reaches th� propellers. By natural curiosities ha\'e only been able to hold their inflamlllable. The devastation which follows such thi!l